Hiring a Tutor for Your Teen
By Danielle Alexander
In 2015, I made the difficult decision to leave my career as a high school English and journalism teacher and instead work one-on-one with students as a private tutor. Through my experiences in both roles, I have first handedly witnessed the benefits of teenagers receiving extra academic support outside of school—especially now with class sizes so large, academic pressure at an all-time high and hybrid learning still new; nevertheless, despite its rewards, tutoring is not cheap, and it’s no surprise to hear that parents have questions.
How to know when it’s time for a tutor
Most parents wait until they see a bad grade on a report card to even consider seeking out a tutor for their teenager. Although it’s never too late for teens to catch up on the material they weren’t understanding, they are, unfortunately, stuck with the bad grade they received on their student record, which, especially for those already in high school, can affect college admissions, scholarship opportunities and more. Because of this, I am constantly encouraging parents to take a proactive versus reactive approach when it comes to hiring a tutor.
I realize most teenagers are not at the age where they’re regularly filling their parents in with every detail of their lives, but I do encourage parents to do their best to regularly check in with their teen and look into how they’re doing at school. If parents see any patterns like their son or daughter procrastinating in one specific course, not turning homework in to one certain teacher or constantly complaining about a particular class or teacher, these could be signs that they’re struggling and could benefit from tutoring.
Teenagers naturally want to do well in school, and if they feel they aren’t, their confidence is affected, which often leads to acting out or giving up. With that in mind, if parents do have the financial means and resources available, it’s not a bad idea to occasionally remind their teenager of that. Today’s teens seem more open to tutoring than ever since the stigma that once surrounded getting tutored has lessened; most middle and high schoolers have worked or are currently working with a tutor.
How to go about selecting a tutor
Once parents and their teen have made the decision to hire a tutor, the question then becomes, “Who?” After working at a tutoring center in college, I found that these centers facilitate amazing results when a parent is taking the proactive approach. They typically have a preset curriculum that addresses skills students will need at some point in their schooling but not necessarily what they’re currently working on in the classroom that specific week. Many parents treat tutoring center sessions like extra-curriculars where their teenager might attend a weekly math class just like they would a dance class or baseball practice.
For parents who find themselves in a more reactive state, I’d recommend looking into private tutors. Yes, they are usually more expensive; however, they are not constrained to a certain curriculum and can individualize each tutoring session to each teen’s need, which will yield faster results. For example, if a student is taking the ACT in three weeks and after analyzing a practice test they took, I see she’s struggling with commas, misplaced modifiers and sentence organization, I have the freedom to tailor my lessons to address these specific skills.
How to know when a tutor is just not working out
Not every tutor will be a good fit for every teen, and I recommend that parents listen to their son or daughter if he or she is unhappy with them. Yes, I get that tutoring is not teenagers’ first choice of a free time activity during the evenings or weekends after a long week of school, but if they’re saying it isn’t working, listen to their why: do they feel the tutor is putting them down? Did they mention that the tutor is always preoccupied and not really listening? Are they saying the tutor isn’t helping? Red flag. Red flag. Red flag. After all, the more the student enjoys their time with a tutor, the better outcome there will be.
Also, if a tutor is reluctant to communicate with the parent or unable to provide detailed and personalized feedback after every session, that’s another worrisome aspect. Teens are old enough to take responsibility for their studies, but at the same time, they’re usually not the ones paying for the tutoring sessions; with that said, parents need to be in the loop.
How to know when it’s time to stop
When parents finally find a good tutor and they’re seeing their child’s grade or test scores increase, they don’t, understandably, want to let him or her go. Yet, being over-tutored is deleterious to a teen’s future, so I advise parents to look out for the signs.
One would be a student receiving an assignment on a Monday and not doing anything with it until Thursday when they meet with their tutor. In other words, since they know they’ll have help later, they don’t see a point in starting it now. Another sign would be your teen requesting additional tutoring sessions every time they get an assignment at school. Instead of applying what they learned and practiced during tutoring to the assignment, they feel like they need their tutor to help them through it, which is simply unrealistic for the future.
Paying attention is key. Hopefully, these tips will help you make the right decision at the right time for your teenager.
In addition to regularly contributing to the Family Time section and other metro Detroit publications, Danielle, owner of Edify LLC, helps middle schoolers, high schoolers and college-level students feel more confident in reading and writing.